Technical Field
Vessels for receiving urine discharged from a human, and in particular, an ergonomic vessel for receiving urine from a female human.
Description of Related Art
Sick and injured women who are bedbound in hospitals, nursing homes, and in-home care have toileting needs. Additionally, bedridden hospital patients routinely have indwelling urinary catheters placed for various medical reasons. Examples include the conditions following trauma, surgery, or illness, any of which may result in a patient's physical inability to void his/her bladder or get out of bed.
30-40% of healthcare related infections have been attributed to the use of indwelling urinary catheters; see Klevens et al., “Estimating health care-associated infections and deaths in U.S. hospitals, 2002,” Public Health Rep. 2007; 122(2):160-166. Additionally, being female is a risk factor for catheter associated infections; see Center for Disease Control, Wong et al., “Guidelines for prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections,” p. 35, available at the following url: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/guidelines/CAUTI_Guideline2009final.pdf.
Catheters should only be removed when patients are able to void and medically allowed to do so. Otherwise, an option is to extend the use of the catheter. This can be done with females when it is in their medical interest to have minimal movement. Bedridden females suffer a higher incidence of inappropriate urinary catheterization which increases their risk of urinary tract infections; see Apisarnthanarak et al., “Initial inappropriate urinary catheters use in a tertiary-care center: incidence, risk factors, and outcomes,” American Journal of Infection Control, 35 (9): 594-9, 2007. This leads to a longer hospital length of stay. A higher cost of hospitalization due to the cost of antibiotics is a direct burden to a hospital, because the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid no longer reimburse for this expense; see Saint et al., Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Annals of Internal Medicine, 150 (12): 877-84, 2009.
In a nursing home setting, a compromised woman may need assistance with toileting, and even in using a urinal. In this situation, the patient may not be fully independent in use of the urinal, yet is able to avoid the indignity of a diaper or the experience of using a bedpan. The current in-bed options for females are limited. The need for a safe, effective, and comfortable urinal for females is indicated by the persistent frequency of bathroom related falls. Trying to get to the bathroom is a common reason given for a patient attempting to get out of bed with inadequate assistance. Changing to an external catheter (male only is routine), applying an adult diaper, or using a bedpan are possible options. Having an elderly woman void in a diaper over the course of a hospital stay increases the risk of long term incontinence.
The female urinals currently on the market that are known to the Applicant are not designed to capture urine effectively from a female who has limited mobility in the constrained setting of a bed. Using a diaper is undignified and messy, and care-giver dependent for donning, doffing and cleaning. The risk of skin irritation remains a problem. Using a bedpan also necessitates being rolled on and off of the bedpan by at least one caregiver. This ordeal is often painful, exhausting and degrading for the compromised patient.
Severely injured and obese patients can require up to three assistants for safe toileting care. Dependence on assistants often includes a waiting interval, which may lead to a loss of self-regulation, because too much time is needed to wait for the caregivers to finish their tasks safely, and gather other assistants and supplies.
The use of a simple bedpan is also unsatisfactory. Bedpans are essentially nothing more than catch basins, which collect urine after it has run down the woman's body to reach it. This is unpleasant and can lead to skin irritation. Moreover, rolling and placing a patient on a bedpan is physically demanding on the caregiver. Such demands may be avoided by the use of an effective urinal.
There remains a need for a urinal for use by females, and in particular, a urinal that is safe, effective, and comfortable for use by a female that is constrained to a supine position due to various medical circumstances.